AMS 14C dating of critical bone samples: Proposed protocol and criteria for evaluation

Abstract

AMS 14C determinations on samples of human bone from sites in the Western Hemisphere currently play an important role in discussions concerning the timing of the initial peopling of the New World. Previous AMS 14C analysis has indicated that all New World human skeletal samples previously assigned Pleistocene ages in the range of 70000-20000 years B.P. are, in fact, of Holocene age. It is proposed that future AMS 14C measurements on human bone samples from the New World suspected to be of an age in excess of late terminal Pleistocene be conducted in what is defined as a “critical sample” AMS 14C analysis mode. A series of procedures and protocols are proposed for such “critical” analyses.